The Parent Trap SGC Style
by Rose Stetson
Summary: Sam comes through the Gate with a kid...and it causes everyone to rethink their relationships. SJ eventually it always seems to boil down to that, doesn't it?
1. Daniel is What?

**"The Parent Trap: SGC Style"**

_By Rose Stetson_

_Season 8, AU; Janet's not dead

* * *

_

The Gate spun as it accepted the incoming wormhole. "Sir, it's SG-1." Walter reported.

"Open the iris!" Jack commanded.

"Yes, sir."

He arrived in the Gate Room as Colonel Carter appeared on the ramp alongside Teal'c with an infant…more like a small toddler…in her arms.

"Welcome back, Colonel." He said, meeting them at the ramp.

She gently shushed him and pointed to the child lying curled up against her chest, asleep.

"Brought home a souvenir, huh?" He asked, facetiously.

She glared at him. "Sir," she whispered. "It's Daniel…"

"I know, Carter. I figured that out when you came through the Gate without him. I'll send SG-…"

"No," she whispered harshly. "The kid…it's Daniel Jackson."

The child shifted and opened his eyes. He caught a glimpse of a couple of the soldiers surrounding him, their guns cocked and their faces shocked.

"Ma-ee." He began threateningly as tears began to fall.

"Stand down!" She ordered as she paced one hand behind his head and gently guided it back to her shoulder. When she began to quietly shush the child, the airmen looked at Jack, in confusion, and he nodded in agreement with her order.

"Carter, we'll debrief in an hour." He whispered, touching her arm to get her attention while she bounced and shushed Daniel.

As she walked toward the blast door with the tiny creature in her arms, Jack sighed.

"What is it, O'Neill? Do you not believe that Daniel Jackson is the child that Colonel Carter is carrying?"

"Huh?" Jack asked, turning to face his friend.

"What has your mind been contemplating?"

"I'm glad I signed the papers that ordered supplies for future refugees…" He said, satisfactorily. "When Carter first put them in front of me, I wouldn't sign them."

"Why are you so glad of this?"

"Because for once on this base, this is a crisis that we are actually prepared to handle." He said, proudly. "We have the necessities to take care of a kid…well, baby."

Teal'c looked toward where Sam had just exited. "Colonel Carter has adjusted well to the challenges that constitute parenthood or child-rearing of any nature." Teal'c observed.

"And?"

"I was merely suggesting that Colonel Carter may desire to become a mother more fervently than we have previously considered."

"You've actually considered that?" Jack asked in amusement.

"Not since Cassandra Fraiser came to Earth."

"Ah." Jack said, pointing his gaze in the same direction. "I have to admit it…she really is a natural."

* * *

_Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews...for all of my stories...I love feeling loved and appreciated! Not enough thanks goes out to those who review...at least in my stories...and I apologize for being so self-centered. Again, a round of applause for all of my faithful readers!_


	2. The Briefing

Sam appeared at the briefing armed with a blanket and the mini-Daniel. She placed him on the floor nearby to sleep.

"So, you want to fill me in on what happened?" Jack asked.

"Sir, we don't know what happened. We think we went to an Asgard planet- or at least it had been occupied by the Asgard at some point."

"Found some familiar doohickeys, did you, Carter?" He asked, teasingly.

She blushed. "Actually, that is the only reason I was able to deduce Asgard occupation. They had a beaming center. Teal'c and I were there, and we thought Daniel was with us. Once we realized that he wasn't, we started looking for him."

"And you found an 18-month-old Daniel?"

"Actually, Janet thinks he might be about ten months old."

Jack looked over at the sleeping child. "A bit big for ten months, don't you think?"

"He's not walking and he just started cutting teeth," Sam replied as she did when she had scientific evidence to contradict the recent theories.

"But he's crawling, right?" Jack asked.

"He's quite mobile when he's awake, sir." She responded.

"So, let me get this straight…Daniel touched something he wasn't supposed to, and now, he's…"

"Baby Daniel." She finished.

Jack grimaced. "You know, I wouldn't mind if we called him something else."

Understanding dawned. "Yes, sir."

Thoughts of Baby Dan-el from the planet Argos surfaced bringing some uncomfortable baggage.

"So, I need to call Thor?" Jack asked.

"I think that's our best option."

"Young Daniel Jackson has awoken." Teal'c said.

"Sure enough, the child had begun crawling toward Sam. He pulled himself up, using the leg of the table for support.

Sam started reaching for him when Jack whispered her name. "Carter!"

She looked up. "What, sir?"

"Let him do it himself."

She looked at him and shrugged. "Okay."

The little guy moved one hand from the stable table leg to Sam's leg. Then, he began to transfer his other hand, but he lost his balance and fell. "Ma-ee!" He cried as tears fell down his cheeks.

Sam immediately picked him up. As she held him close, she ran her hand up and down his back, cooing softly to comfort him. He quickly laid his blond head on her shoulder and thrust his thumb into his mouth.

She closed her eyes as she squeezed him tightly. Then, she opened her eyes to find her commanding officer staring at her. She started blushing. "Sorry, sir. I just…"

"Carter, it's okay." Jack said, recovering quickly. 'After Doc Fraiser clears him, he can go to your place."

Her eyes widened. "But, sir. I don't have anything…it's not baby-…"

"We'll help you out, don't worry. Dismissed."

As she carried Daniel out of the room, Teal'c could have sworn that O'Neill had said something like: "She's so HOT when she's with kids!"


	3. We're Going Out

Sam returned to Jack's office shortly. "Sir?"

He looked up. "Oh, Carter. Come in."

"Do you have any idea of where I could keep Daniel? The lab is a bad idea, so's the infirmary…"

"Well, we could keep him in the brief…no, there are stairs." He corrected himself.

She propped Daniel on her hip. "And all of the VIP suites are occupied…"

"Hey! Didn't you ask for a couple of portable cribs in that order for the refugees? Use that. That way, you'll be able to keep him in the lab, or wherever you're going to be."

She grinned. "I'll be able to keep working!"

"Carter, you don't have to…"

"I know, but I can do it."

"Carter, I was just going to remind you that your assignment currently is to take care of young Danny. If you don't get to your doohickeys today, no big deal."

"You know, sir, that's really sweet, but I'll be able to handle it. Thanks."

With that, she smiled and walked out of the room.

* * *

About an hour later, Jack walked into Sam's lab to find her playing with Daniel.

"Ma ma ma," he started.

She echoed him and they would laugh.

The game continued for a few more minutes before Sam realized that he was there, and she turned, embarrassed.

"It's okay, Carter. I only stopped by to say that Doc Fraiser confirmed that this is Daniel." He said, walking into the room.

As he approached the portable crib, Daniel raised his arms and squeaked a couple of times.

"Oh, you want to get out, do you?" Jack asked, bending down and picking him up.

Daniel reached for Jack's cap. He laughed. "Okay, kid...here you go."

In an instant, the cap was on the small child's head, covering his eyes. The adults chuckled. "Well, Carter? Ready to go?"

"Almost. I just need to find a carseat we can borrow until we get one of our own, and I need to change into my civilian clothes, grab the diaper bag, and all that fun stuff!"

"Carseat taken care of...Sgt. Connie Smith has one in her trunk for her neice. She said we could borrow it."

Sam smiled gratefully. "Then I guess, I'll need you to grab the diaper bag and watch Daniel while I change."

"No problem. Wouldn't want little Daniel to get an eyefull."

She looked at him, curiously.

"He might remember it..." He said, trying to regain his 'authority.'

She laughed. "Yes, sir."


	4. WalMart

They walked down the aisles of Wal-Mart, Jack pushing little Danny in the cart and Sam directing Jack to where she wanted to go.

"Carter?"

"Hmmm?"

"You know what I said about navigating D.C.?"

She nodded, absently. "Uh-huh."

"That goes double for Wal-Mart."

She flashed him an amused smile. "Good thing I'm here then."

"What about you, little fella? Have a hard time navigating Wal-Mart?" He asked the little boy, seriously.

Daniel just clapped his hands. "Ma ma!"

"Siding with Carter as usual." The general grumbled.

"What was that, sir?" Sam asked, putting some bread into the cart.

"Nothing…it's just that Danny here…never mind."

"Ma ma!" Daniel squealed, reaching for Sam.

"Yes, Daniel?" She asked, bending down.

"'p. 'p."

She looked at Jack, confused. "What does he want?"

"Well, if you asked me, he wants you to pick him up."

She grinned, sheepishly. "Right."

As she picked him up, Jack heard her mutter: "A Ph.D. in Astrophysics, and I can't even figure out what a baby wants."

"Don't worry about it!" Jack assured. "You'll pick it up in no time."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"You have doubts?" He asked, startled.

"Actually, sir, yes. I do. A lot of doubts." She said, walking over to the baby food, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Janet said we should try baby food and maybe a few solids that don't require a lot of teeth. Like bananas that we can cut into three bite-sized pieces."

She bounced the baby on her hip. "So, what'll it be, Danny?" She proceeded to name off a few different jars, placing them in the cart along with some juices.

"Might want to get a few of these." Jack said, picking up a box of teething biscuits.

She nodded as she walked toward the baby department. Jack watched her go, surprised to realize that no matter how well he knew her, Samantha Carter always managed to surprise him. However, her insecurities were among the few less than pleasant surprises that she'd thrown his way.

"Sir?" She asked, holding little Daniel and standing at the end of the aisle. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah." He said, catching up to them. "So, you don't know what a natural you are?"

"Sir, I'd rather not talk about this right now."

"What about Cassandra? Or Merrin?"

"They weren't babies!" She insisted, rather loudly.

Daniel began crying as Jack harshly reprimanded her. "Carter!"

She closed her eyes in frustration. She tried to help guide Daniel's head to a soft spot on her shoulder while she bounced and rocked him, but he would have none of it. A few minutes passed, and she became acutely aware of all of the people staring at her as they passed. She nearly started crying when Jack gently took Daniel from her arms.

"_Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream! Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!_" He bounced Daniel up and down, quieting him, then tossed him up in the air at his brief interim of "_And row, row, row your boat…_"

Before long, Danny was giggling.

Sam just watched him. He was SO good with kids, unlike herself. Sure, she liked them, but liking kids and being good with them were two VERY different cans of worms.

"See, Carter, you just play with them. They'll forgive you like that." He said, with a snap of his fingers.

He handed young Danny back to her. "Thank you, sir." She said.

"Now, to get the basic essentials." Jack said, with a sigh as he eyed the baby department.

"Sir, I doubt we'll have to get much. A lot of the stuff we'll need, we can get from the base. I mean, we'll probably only have him like this for a couple of days."

"Come on, Carter. You're the one who thinks through every conceivable scenario. Maybe Thor won't be able to help Daniel."

She paled. "That thought never occurred to me." She admitted.

Jack smiled, nervously. "Of course Thor's going to help him. I was only kidding. Sorry, bad joke."

However, the damage was done. She began rummaging through the clothes on the display. "Sir, I'm going to need clothes, diapers, a crib, a car seat, a stroller, toys, shoes…"

"Carter!" He said, grabbing her by the shoulders, taking Daniel from her and placing him in the cart. "Rome wasn't built in a day!"

She just stared at him with a blank look on her face.

"What?"

She blinked quickly. "Nothing. I just…I've never…This is all new to me, sir."

"Well, then, this'll be good practice for when you and Pete have your own kids, won't it?"

Pain coursed through her as she nodded. "Sure."

"So, strollers, car seats or cribs first?"

* * *

They reached the check-out line with a full cart. Jack had insisted on getting Daniel a number of "classic" accessories: a teddy bear and a "blankie" to name a couple.

Daniel had again insisted on being held by Sam. She tried to help Jack get the things onto the belt, but was unsuccessful. "Sam, don't worry about it." He said.

She was caught by surprise. He rarely called her by her first name. She reached into her purse to get out her credit card, but his strong arm stopped her when he waved his own in front of her. "Don't worry about it."

The cashier watched them. "Your son is so well-behaved." She said, smiling.

Daniel just smiled back at her while Sam gave her a bewildered look.

"And to have another precious angel on the way, what a blessing! You know, you are so smart to get started on building up the nursery so soon." She said.

By now, Sam was about to protest, but Jack placed his hand on hers. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's get you and Junior to the car."

As they reached his truck and placed Daniel in his new car seat, Sam turned to Jack. "How could she think that we were Daniel's parents?" She ranted. "And how dare you pretend that you and I..."

"Well, he does call you 'ma ma.'" The general pointed out. She was genuinely startled, but rekindled the angry fire that raged inside.

"And do I LOOK pregnant to you? For that matter, do we look like the happy married couple with one kid and another on the way?"

Jack shook his head, knowing that what the cashier had said was simply the proverbial straw. "Did you hear what she said? So soon. If, and I stress IF, she thought that you were pregnant, she thought you weren't showing yet. Carter, what's gotten into you?"

She looked into his eyes for a few moments, a fatal mistake. She began sobbing.

"Carter?" He asked, gathering her into an embrace. "What's wrong?"

"I can't take care of a baby." She recovered, pulling out of his embrace. "And what the hell makes you think that I need to practice before Pete and I do or don't have kids?" She rambled.

"Carter," He said, placing his hands on her arms and then, placing one finger under her chin, forcing her to look into those deep, brown pools that were his eyes. "You CAN take care of a baby. It's only when you doubt yourself that you make a mistake. And second of all, I know you'd never settle for anyone that didn't want a family as much as you do."

She swallowed down the lump that had jumped from her heart to her throat. "What makes you think I want a family?" She whispered.

"Don't you?" He asked, softly.

"That's not the point."

"Carter, I can't imagine you settling for anything less than the joy that a child can bring you." He said, seriously. "If Pete, or anyone else, is making you think that you can't be a good enough mother, I want you to know that they are wrong."

"What if I fail?" She asked.

"Never going to happen."

"It has before."

"What?" He asked.

"Not exactly in motherhood, I mean let's face it, I'm the one with the least experience, but…I mean, you always believe that I can fix something, and…even I fail. I'm just not sure I want to take that chance with something so important as…a child's life."

His face became etched with pain. "I'll take you home, Carter."

She closed her eyes, angry with herself for her stupidity at mentioning something that could have and obviously did remind him of Charlie's untimely end. "Sir…I didn't mean…"

"Get in the car, Carter. That's an order."

She took a deep breath, the moment was gone. "Yes, sir."


	5. Reconciliation

The drive to her home was silent, making her acutely uncomfortable. She sighed. She'd really stuck her foot in her mouth this time. She had hurt the one person that she could never bear to hurt.

She gasped at the realization of what she had just said. Jack was the only one that she really cared about hurting. If he was happy, all was right in the world. If she had hurt him, nothing could cheer her up.

Great, she thought to herself. COMMANDING OFFICER ALERT! COMMANDING OFFICER ALERT! The sirens in her head exploded.

"Jack." She began.

He didn't respond to her tender plea, though it hurt him not to do so.

"Jack, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking, and I hurt you. You tried to help me, and I punished you for my own screw-ups."

He turned ever so slightly. What was she talking about?

"I…I've never really addressed my feelings for you since…since we agreed to…forget them."

He felt like yelling: I NEVER AGREED TO THAT! YOU NEVER REALLY ASKED ME WHAT I WANTED TO DO! YOUR MIND WAS ALREADY MADE UP! HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU THAT I LOVED YOU AND WOULD RETIRE SO THAT WE COULD TRY TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP? EVERYTHING I'VE DONE IN REGARD TO THAT DAY HAS BEEN IN DIRECT CORRELATION TO THE SIGNALS I'VE RECEIVED FROM YOU!

However, he instead raised an eyebrow. "And what feelings would these be?"

She blinked back tears, looking up at the sky, trying to evaporate the water that was appearing on her cheeks. "Jack, if you don't feel anything for me anymore, so be it. But we both know perfectly well what feelings I'm talking about. They're the ones that we have refused to acknowledge even to ourselves."

Jack bit his cheek.

"I guess what I'm really trying to say is that…when you mentioned Pete, I…I overreacted. Not because you did anything wrong, but because…I think I'm finally realizing that…I'm not getting what I want or need from that relationship."

"But you're engaged." He finally uttered, her words finally sinking into his mind.

"I know. I guess…I was in denial."

He chewed on how to respond for a few moments before she jumped back in. "Sir, we don't have to bring this up outside of the car, if we don't want to. I'm not going to mention it on the base, and…"

"Carter, that's what got us into this mess in the first place." He said, gently.

The intake of breath was sharp on her side of the car, and Jack turned. "Come on, Carter, you don't really expect me to let you do that to me again, do you?"

She couldn't look him in the eye. "Well, I was…I hoped that…"

"Carter, we will talk all we want off the base about our relationship. It's a given that we won't mention it on the base, until one or the other of us makes another career choice."

"I will." She whispered.

"No, you won't, Carter. You're too valuable to the program."

"You're not exactly expendable either." She challenged.

"I know. But…the President has appointed a civilian commander of the base before. Hopefully, he'll accept my resignation as an AF general, and allow me to keep the position."

"But you'd still be my immediate superior."

"As I would be if you transferred to the labs. Carter, trust me. Let's try this first, and then…we'll look at the other options."

A pretty heavy sigh from the backseat forced Sam to turn around. She saw the toddler sleeping in his carseat, his head hanging to one side. She smiled tenderly and reached behind her to reposition his head against the side of the carseat. As she turned back around, she noticed Jack's eyes on her.

"What?"

"You're such a natural."

"What? Repositioning his head? Come on, we all know how acutely uncomfortable that can get, and how frustrating a kinked neck is from sleeping funny."

"I'm tellin' ya, someday, you're going to have a mini-van full of kids, and you'll look back there and ask one of your other kids to do that exact thing without a second thought. No one else will have realized that there was a problem, but despite the fact that you're driving, you will have noticed."

She gave a half-hearted chuckle, allowing her fingers to brush aside a few strands of Daniel's hair from his face as he slept. "I hope you're right."


	6. The Morning From Netu

The next day, Sam hurried to the SGC, half an hour late for work. She huffed into Jack's office, Daniel in her arms as she reported in for work. "Sorry, sir." She said, her hair disheveled, without any make-up on and breakfast crumbs all over her civilian clothes.

"Toast?" He asked, barely looking up.

"Huh?"

He finished the paperwork he had been working on and looked at her, pointing at her civvies. "Did you have toast for breakfast?"

She looked down. "Oh my gosh! No."

She nearly dropped Daniel as she tried to brush the crumbs off of herself.

"So, what'd you have for breakfast?" He asked, casually as he walked over and took little Daniel from her.

"Pop-tarts." She mumbled.

"Carter, the health food junkie, ate POP-TARTS for breakfast?"

She looked up quickly. "Yes, sir, I ate pop-tarts for breakfast because I overslept. I overslept because Daniel woke up three times last night with nightmares or other needs. And, before we left, I had to changed Daniel's outfit twice after he had an overfilled diaper in the first and spilled his grape juice down the front of the second one.

Jack looked at her, plainly. "Is that all?"

She gave him a look that told him that it had been a bad day already and that she wasn't in the mood for his sarcasm.

"Well, good news: Thor's coming back."

Her face literally lit up with the news. "Are you serious?"

"Yep."

She kissed him. "That's great news!"

Jack looked stunned for a moment, but shook it off. "Yes…well, that's the good news. Here's the…not so good news. He's bringing the real Daniel with him."

She raised an eyebrow. "Then that's not…?"

"Nope. This is a failed clone."

"He's a…clone? As in…mini-Daniel?"

"Yeah. Apparently Daniel decided that my clone needed someone to discuss the top-secret stuff with, reminisce, etc. Anyway, he made the decision to have Thor make a copy of himself. I guess it didn't work the way he thought it would."

"What the hell was he thinking?" She blurted without thinking.

"Wha' da heh!" Daniel said, good-naturedly, clapping his hands.

Jack had to keep from chuckling at the timing of the little guy. Obviously he had always been…blessed with impeccable timing. Meanwhile, Sam just looked at the little guy. She started to cry.

Daniel just looked from Sam to Jack, and then, with a quivering lip, giant crocodile tears began to fall down his own cheeks. Just then, Thor and Daniel appeared in the briefing room, a young man in tow, looking a great deal like Daniel.

"Oh for cryin' out loud!" Jack said, looking out his office window and finding the sight that met his eyes. He patted Sam's shoulder. "I'll be right back. Gonna pass Daniel off to…Daniel."

She nodded, and Jack practically ran out the office and handed the crying infant to Daniel wordlessly and ran back to Sam. Poor Daniel just stared at his clone, and smiled self-consciously. He bounced the crying baby up and down, much like Sam had done when the clone had first entered the Gate room, but unfortunately for him, the baby just wailed louder and louder.

The little gray Asgard standing beside him looked up with wide eyes at the infant's behavior. Then, he slowly brought his hands up to his tiny ears. He didn't understand how such a tiny creature such as this baby could make so much noise as this.

When Jack walked into the office, he was instantly at Sam's side. "What's wrong?" He asked, so startled by the scene of Carter crying for no reason at all.

She wiped at her eyes with one of the tissues that she had gotten from the Kleenex box on his desk. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm just…this has been such a long day!"

"Carter, it's nine-thirty." He said, puzzled.

"I know." She said, sniffling. "But I feel like I've been working non-stop for three days. And quite frankly, I'm so tired that I'm crying."

"Ah." He said, though he really didn't understand this at all. He just attributed it to the difference between men and women and just patted her awkwardly on the back.

Several minutes later, after the fits of spontaneous crying had been taken care of, SG-1, Thor, Jack, and the two Daniel clones sat at the briefing table with Sam holding the youngest Daniel on her lap and the other clone sitting to the left of Daniel.

"So…Loki came upon our little project and hit a button, attempting to sabotage our work, but instead he stopped the aging of the clone and the downloading of my mind into the body. As he tried to get away before his mistake was noticed, he accidentally beamed the clone back onto the planet from whence I had come." Daniel said, concluding the telling of his story.

"Ah. So, your plans for Daniel, Jr. the first?" Jack asked, a smile on his face, indicating his pleasure at seeing the archaeologist fail to plan.

"Uh…I don't know really."

Thor sat, his arms on the armrests of the chair that he sat in. The humans had chairs that were three or four times his size, but as much as this could have bothered him, it didn't. "We can dispose of the clone in a way that would be humane."

Sam looked up from playing with the blond curls of the young clone. "NO!" She said, firmly.

"Colonel Carter, I assure you. He will not suffer at all. And…I do not share Loki's same feelings on the matter of clone research. We shall simply deposit him on a planet where there are others who can care for him. It is most probable that he shall be placed on Cimmeria with Garen's family. She has been asking for a child to call her own for some time now."

Sam looked at the child that sat, contentedly on her lap. Yes, the last day had been particularly draining, emotionally and hard on her sleep, but…she couldn't picture a life without the little guy.

"Thor, I'd like to adopt him. He could stay with me." She said, looking up at the alien.

"Are you certain, Colonel Carter?"

She nodded. "It's going to be a big adjustment, but…" she smiled at Jack. "It's worth it."

"O'Neill, will you grant Colonel Carter's request?" Thor asked, eyeing the General's proud look toward Sam.

"Huh?" He asked, turning back to the rest of the meeting after a few moments that only he and Sam had enjoyed the fullness of.

"Will you be granting Colonel Carter's request to become the mother of the clone?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll talk to the President. And the minute he knows you're behind it, I'm sure he'll be happy to do whatever he can do to get it taken care of." Jack said, smiling.

Daniel looked between Sam and Jack. "Guys…did I miss something?"

"I believe that O'Neill and Colonel Carter have reached a mutual understanding of the events that have transpired between them over these last many years."

Daniel looked from Teal'c to the two blushing Air Force officers. Suddenly, Jack coughed to break the silence. "All right. Carter's taking the little Danny. Daniel's taking the bigger Daniel to see Jack, Jr., and Teal'c and I are just along for the ride." He paused. "Did I get everything?"

"I will stay within communication range for a few months to be certain that all the arrangements are satisfactory." Thor said with a great deal of precision.

"Great. Then, dismissed."

And with that, Thor beamed away, the two older Daniels walked toward the elevator to begin their journey to the high school that currently had Jonathan O'Neill enrolled as one of its students, Teal'c left to go to the mess for breakfast, and Jack, Sam and Daniel, Jr. stayed for a few moments.

"I guess I should name him something other than Daniel Jackson." Sam said, thoughtfully.

"Probably. That'd just be…"

"Weird." She agreed.

"So, what's his name?"

"Probably Jacob Daniel Carter." She said, shrugging.

He nodded, as if he was approving her choice. "You know your dad's going to try and have my head for this. Because somehow or another it's going to be my fault."

She shrugged. "Dad may be a little…impatient with you, but it's just because he knows you're smarter than you let on to be. It frustrates him that you find such pleasure in being sarcastic and…clueless." She said with a smile. "In a simple cliché, he just does it because he cares."

"So what now?" He asked.

She looked up from the little toddler she had on her lap. "I don't know, sir. From now on, I'm in unfamiliar territory."

"Maybe you'll let me help out from time to time." He said, nonchalantly.

"I'd like that." She said with a grin.


	7. Epilogue

_Five years later_

The O'Neill family was driving to the SGC where they would pick Sam's father up for Christmas. The mini-van was crowded with O'Neills, more than excited to pick up "Grampa Carter" up from the Stargate. Six year old Jacob Daniel O'Neill had grown up to be a somber child, very observant and even more inquisitive. There had been a great many comments on how much like his uncle Daniel he was beginning to be.

About two years younger than Jacob was Grace Thea O'Neill. She had been a "honeymoon baby," not an unwelcome addition to the family, but certainly an unexpected one. She was vivacious and not a soft-spoken child. She said exactly what was on her mind when it was on her mind, and had been Jack's "challenge."

Two-year-old Jonathan Mark O'Neill sat in the carseat, silently. He had been caught up in the excitement that his brother and sister had initiated, but was now sleeping soundly, exhausted by the energy required to compete with his siblings. His head drooped to the side at an uncomfortable angle.

Sam turned. "Jacob!" She whispered harshly, attempting to reach the ears of the six-year-old.

He stopped his antics and stood as though he had just been rebuked. "Sorry, Mom."

She smiled. "Thanks, sweetheart. Can you help me?"

She had tried to maneuver her body back to help to make the toddler more comfortable, but being six months pregnant, she just didn't move like she used to. "Jacob, take this pillow," she said, handing the six-year-old the neck pillow that she kept in the car for occasions like this. "Put it around Jonathan's neck." She watched vigilantly as the little boy carefully positioned the pillow and straightened Jonathan's posture.

"Thank you, Jacob." She said with a smile on her face.

"You're welcome, Mom."

As she returned to her normal position, Jack placed his left hand on her knee. She looked at him, questioningly.

"You had doubts?" He asked, cryptically.

With a smile on her lips, she placed her hand in his. "For a little while, but…I had some reassurance from a very wise man."


End file.
